Question filter material for custom fan filters

[CU]

I have a filter now that is made of 5mm thick foam. While it seems to trap the dust it also seems to restrictive. So, I am looking for some other material to use. DEMCiflex filters seem pretty good although I am not sure if I want to spend that much on a custom filter. Is there a similar material that I can just buy and cut to the size I need? For reference you can see the current filter and where it goes in this post. It is the third picture. It would need to be stiff enough to stand up on its own like the current filter, maybe a fine metal mesh? Or, I would need to attach it somehow.

 

[CU]

My experience with Polaris would suggest to keep the undervolt, and ditch the OC. The card will offer better performance at stock clocks with the undervolt (especially if you can get away with a 100mV undervolt). The OC is not going to give you much of a boost over that because power limits get hit.

From some benchmarking I have been doing it doesn't appear to be more than a few frames. I got 1.5fps in 3DMark and around 300 more points total for the GPU score. I am not hitting the power limit though as I raised it, and the clock never drops. But, maybe it just isn't worth OC'ing it. If only GPU prices would come back down. I bought this RX570 at the end of 2019 for around $100 new. Planed to have replaced it by now.

 

[mindless1]

Passive holes can allow the air out of the case before it should be. You want the air to pass through your components. Not escape the case before it does.

Passive holes also cause short loops where the fan adjacent, just sucks air in right next to it so the air only travels a few inches.

Previously CU reported that air was still exiting the passive holes which was a bit of a head scratcher until I realized it must be that not only is the front filter not much of an impedance but also, the front fans are moving more air than necessary instead of letting the rear take up some of the load, especially considering that due to normal system placement, more noise tends to make it from the front fans to the user's ears than the rear fans.

Redundancy can be good though, as long as the noise is tolerable such a setup could probably allow the system to keep being used (perhaps not as much high load gaming/etc) even if any one of the fans failed, until there's a chance to replace it.

Up to (meaning CU), I optimize for low noise and minimum dust ingress, and in that case (pun intended) passive holes have no useful purpose. Getting rid of them can make a system quieter if you don't sweat a couple degrees temp difference one way or the other, which can depend on overall case fitness and how far you're mad overclocking... without a front rack full of HDDs, the sys config might work without any front case fans at all, as long as all passive holes are covered, but again as mentioned above, redundancy can be good.

 

[Stuka87]

From some benchmarking I have been doing it doesn't appear to be more than a few frames. I got 1.5fps in 3DMark and around 300 more points total for the GPU score. I am not hitting the power limit though as I raised it, and the clock never drops. But, maybe it just isn't worth OC'ing it. If only GPU prices would come back down. I bought this RX570 at the end of 2019 for around $100 new. Planed to have replaced it by now.

Yeah, we all hope for lower prices. One day... maybe.

 

[aigomorla]

oh i completely forgot to mention this...

So i don't know if you already didn't know, but back in the days, the days we had to mod everything, we would use a fan grill and cover it up with ankle high pantihose material.

Like these:

Amazon.com: MANZI 12 pairs Nylon Pantyhose Socks Ankle Sheer Hosiery(12 pairs black) : Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry

Amazon.com: MANZI 12 pairs Nylon Pantyhose Socks Ankle Sheer Hosiery(12 pairs black) : Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry

www.amazon.com

Or you can get the full length and cut the legs out to sections and use the sections on the grill.
So like 1 full size was good for about 6 grills because you could get 3 grills each leg.

And it worked fairly well, but you would need to still clean it off every now and then.
The hard part was a male going into rite aid to buy said pantyhose, and the clerk giving u funny looks when you paid for it.

 

[mindless1]

^ That's when you ask the clerk if they know of any liquor stores with a lot of cash lying around.

 

[CU]

I knew about using nylon's and thought about making a frame to stretch it across to use. But after the testing I did in an earlier post, it seems my current filter isn't really cutting down on air flow as the temps and fan rpm doesn't really change much.

My current thought is to re-paste my gpu with some MX-5 and replace the fans / shroud with two Arctic P12's. I think that should bring the temps and noise down. Or, I could just leave it alone and run stock. But, stock just doesn't seem as fun.

 

[aigomorla]

But, stock just doesn't seem as fun.

what is this "stock" you talk about?
is it that thing you add to soup?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I have a filter now that is made of 5mm thick foam. While it seems to trap the dust it also seems to restrictive. So, I am looking for some other material to use. DEMCiflex filters seem pretty good although I am not sure if I want to spend that much on a custom filter. Is there a similar material that I can just buy and cut to the size I need? For reference you can see the current filter and where it goes in this post. It is the third picture. It would need to be stiff enough to stand up on its own like the current filter, maybe a fine metal mesh? Or, I would need to attach it somehow.

Web-search for two reseller outfits: Performance PCs, and Cooler Guys. One, the other or both offer a roll of filter material you can cut. I don't know if it's "too" expensive, but for the larger amount that I ordered personally, I spent 35 bucks. Probably enough for three or four full-case filtering projects.

You can also investigate the fiberglass household HVAC filters that you can buy for $2 each at Home Depot and cut them. Moreover, there are (approx) 7"x12" white filter panels you can also buy there and probably very cheap. But the fiberglass units, when cut, are better if you can apply a bead of silicon rubber sealant around the edges to keep the strands of fiberglass together.

Soulkeeper's photos show something similar to what I do. I cut the frames from black foam art-board, sometimes called foam core. I may laminate three -- more or less -- pieces. Hold-The-Foam art-board glue also adheres to other materials. I will either glue a piece of filter screen to it or staple it. Or both. And I'll cover the raw edges of the filter material with an additional foam-core laminate and Hold-The-Foam. You can sand it, you can primer it, you can paint it with spray enamel. Referring, of course, to the foam board surfaces. You wouldn't want to paint and primer the filter-screen, would you?!

My recent mini-project was to replicate for an identical case the front-panel filter which fits over a pair of 140mm square fan frames. For this, I actually purchased a DEMCi Flex 140x280mm rectangular unit with the magnetic plastic. Omitting the glue-on magnetic tape that allows you to put it on a steel surface, I glued and stapled it. Later, pulled the staples for appearances, because the glue job is rock-solid with the art-board.

I'll look for a picture, but it may be on my "down-for-repair" sig machine and not on my server or backup system.

But I feel this way. If you have to shell out $25 for a DEMCi Flex product, consider that it's a one-time investment. You aren't going to throw away the filter when it's dirty. You can just give it a blast from the garden hose and let it dry, or run it under the cold tap. Or hit it with the air-blaster or vacuum-cleaner. And do it outdoors.

OK -- Yeah -- found my pictures folder on this backup system. I'm using Coolermaster Stacker 832 cases, and installing the front 2x 140mm fans so they actually protrude from the case frame by 1/4" to 1/2". The foam-board panels were cut to make an interference fit with the fans. It's foam board. the fan frames never touch the case material, and they're isolated with rubber fittings. Foam art board doesn't "rattle". Doesn't make any noises or vibrate.

Is this cool, or what?? I think in this example, I used the original metal screen material I harvested from a CoolerMaster HAF case. The HAF got outfitted with DEMCi-Flex custom filters, anyway. But you could use dEMCi-Flex material, or the material they sell at the resellers I mentioned, or the material Soulkeeper mentioned. Foam-core Art-board is great stuff for case-modding, ducting and other wonderful projects. You can see at the very top of the case where I used the recess in the top panel or "carrying-handle" of the Stacker to install a dual eSATA plug and two LED lights. That was all foam-core art-board.



UP-EDIT: Also, I notice someone mentioned pantihose. Yes -- that stuff works great as a filter-screen material.

Someone else -- several -- brought the matter of "passive vent holes" into the discussion. I pressurize my cases with a vengeance. Air must come in the case only through deliberately deployed fans; air must go out of the case through only the CPU-cooler exhaust port and the power-supply. If there are any other exhausts, they exist for a reason. Everything else gets blocked off by various materials: Spire acoustic foam-rubber and aluminum tape from the auto-parts store come in quite handy. I will even use a filter, designed like the one above but with application of magnetic tape, to the array of holes in my motherboard pan behind the CPU -- IF -- IF -- I have created air-flow that sucks air into the case from those holes. But there's no need for filters on deliberate exhaust ports.

 

[CU]

I like the foam board you mentioned. Didn't know you could sand and paint it. Always figured if I needed to build a filter frame, I would need to 3D print it. But, the foam board seems like a good option.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I like the foam board you mentioned. Didn't know you could sand and paint it. Always figured if I needed to build a filter frame, I would need to 3D print it. But, the foam board seems like a good option.

First, it's cheap. I've seen it at Target drugs and maybe Michael's Arts and Crafts for maybe $4 per square yard. You can of course get it in colors -- white, red, etc -- but I prefer black. There are simple tricks to cutting the board that make perfectly beveled corners when bent to an angle -- usually right angles but different constructions would make other configurations possible. The best stuff, and I always hope and pray it will be available at Michael's or somewhere else, is a large three-panel fold-out in black foam-core about three or four feet high and three unfolding panels for a total width of maybe 5 feet, more or less.. The item is sold for school show-and-tell projects, with plenty of room to display photos and other items.

As for the enamel, it's a slam dunk. Use a spray-on plastic enamel, maybe Dupli-Color and others. But I've primered and painted it with regular enamel, and all with the same result. Either regular primer works, or there's a specific primer for the surface and the paint. Most of the foam-board surfaces are bonded construction paper, and with the foam, is a stiff medium. You can use an Xacto knife to cut it, but sharpen frequently and go slowly. Better is a hot-knife, which can be found through online hardware outlets for maybe $25. They come equipped with different blades for different cuts and materials, and I even think there's a soldering tip. Xacto saw blades also may be useful, depending on the design of your project.

If you are patient, slow and careful, you can shape corners and folds of foam-core glued constructions. I've used sandpaper on it. But one must understand there are two basic materials in foam-core construction: the foam, and the paper. You can paint it before enameling with gobs of Hold-The-Foam Glue to fill pits and make smoother surfaces -- then sand the dried result, primer and paint.